Our Broken Medical System and the Need for Death Doulas

I have known for many years that our medical system is broken. So deeply broken, but today...today I felt lost and hopeless, alongside all of the others. Our lives are in the hands of these overworked people, in these overcrowded places. We deserve better! We ALL deserve better! Hence the need for death doulas.

It is absolutely heartbreaking and eye opening to spend a day sitting and waiting, and waiting and sitting, in South Shore Regional Hospital. 

Follow me as I walk you through the Emerg experience: 

9:57am triage

10:05am asked to wait in separate room for blood work, which provides false hope that this will go quickly

10:15am back out to main waiting room

2pm moved to secondary waiting area (a hallway in emerg)

3pm brief chat with doctor, in what I can only describe as a storage room. He orders a Catscan for suspected appendicitis 

3:05pm moved to a stretcher in the hallway, where there are 3 elderly men on stretchers and at least 4 people in this "secondary waiting area"-all alone

4:35pm Catscan

5:26pm no appendicitis (yay) but might or might not be a variety of other things, but who really knows, so sent home

5:45pm discharged with no helpful information, still in tremendous pain, vomiting and loss of all faith in the medical system. The kicker-the lovely invite to, "Please come back if symptoms worsen." 

All the while watching as 10+ nurses are in a flurry in the nurses station, at least 5 cleaners are busily wiping down seats and mattresses and turning things over as quickly as they can. There are so many paramedics about that I lost count and what felt like endless sad, sick and defeated looking patients (often alone) , waiting to be seen, amidst utter chaos. 

Every kind of person is there. The grumpiest man who won't give up his hospital issued wheelchair and sit in a chair, when there's a shortage of wheelchairs. The sweetest elderly gentleman who had been with his caregiver, so patiently waiting to see a doctor, for several hours, and still smiled and told us sincerely to enjoy our evening. There are people in stretchers that look to be just hanging on and they're all alone...in a hallway, where realistically, they may die. Who knew a bed, in a room, and dying with a companion present was a luxury??

The doctors are...professional and clearly overworked. The nurses are mostly kind and lovely, but there seems to be too much going on for everyone to be in the know. So many patients are alone and seem confused. Here’s where I plan to help-Death Doulas act as another layer of support. They can listen, help, advocate and simply be present when others can’t. In such a hurting system, and an aging population, we need more help than ever. People’s needs and rights in dying with dignity are not being met. It’s time for this to change-even if only by one person at a time.

Who’s with me?

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Jackie Belliveau is an HHA Death Doula Candidate, residing on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. She has a great passion for helping others, writing and nature. You can learn more about her at https://jacbelliveau.blogspot.com/.